The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the second film in a franchise that has obviously caught fire with audiences. The sequel to 2012's The Hunger Games began playing last night at 8 PM and since then has grossed $25.25 million domestically, 28% higher than the first film's Thursday opening with $32 million already in the bank from 43 international territories.

Comparisons are already being drawn to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, but those comparisons have to remember, they are being made to the final film in a popular franchise compared to only the second film in a franchise that has two more releases yet to come. That said, the difference is minimal as Breaking Dawn - Part 2's Thursday night last November was $30.4 million. Granted, screenings of that film began at 10 PM, but that film also ran 30 minutes shorter than Catching Fire.

Catching Fire (read my review here) is expected to make somewhere near $175 million for the weekend, which means it will be competing with Iron Man 3 for the #1 spot after its $174.1 million from earlier this year. [Deadline]

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I think a lot of people are underestimating the power of a good young adult adaptation. When done well, YA adaptations can bring in truck loads of money. Given that almost all the reviews say it's better than the first film, this looks like it'll have a bigger audience (by number) than the first one. I expect it to beat IM3 for the opening weekend.

Tommy

Especially when it's aimed towards a wider range of audience then just obsessed teenager girls and lonely moms.

yrabadi

It's Jennifer Lawrence, guys! Killer female talent that appeals to both males and females. Star quality right there! Mix that in with the books and the audience they attract, along with the love story and all that within them, and you got a recipe for a killer box office take!

Saw the film last night, and really enjoyed it! I liked the first one for what it was, but this was miles above better in my opinion. If the third and fourth films can keep up the momentum, that finale is going to make a KILLING. I'm talking potential Avengers numbers for opening weekend.

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/profile/Winchester/ Winchester

As usual, it'll depend on the full Friday estimate and how much, if any, demand gets burned off by the midnights. It should certainly be able to make a run at the year's biggest opening and nothing else coming out this year looks to beat either this or IM3 on that score

But with next weekend being the Thanksgiving weekend it should really be able to have a great run up til next week at the very least, so I'm more interested in whether it can also storm in to being the highest grossing US release of the year domestically because, again, I don't think anything left to come out this year now looks like it would do over IM3's $409 - apart from Catching Fire.

There's a lot to absorb in this latest Avengers: Age of Ultron post as we have a new Captain America character poster, news of a new trailer and an invite to the world premiere where you'll live like RDJ for a day.